Strengthening of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The Commission on Human Rights,

Recalling all relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and the Centre for Human Rights, in particular Assembly resolution 48/141 and its own resolutions 1997/76 and 1998/83,

Underscoring the importance of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights for all States,

Reaffirming the universal support for the creation of the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights and affirming, in order to promote and protect human rights, the need for continuing support by all States for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,

Reaffirming also that all human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated and that the international community must treat human rights globally in a fair and equal manner, on the same footing and with the same emphasis,

Recalling that the mandate of the High Commissioner for Human Rights includes promotion and protection of the effective enjoyment by all of all civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights,

Recalling also that the mandate of the High Commissioner for Human Rights confers on her a central role in the realization of the Right to Development,

Recalling further that the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action recognized the necessity for an adaptation and strengthening of United Nations human rights machinery in accordance with current and future needs in the promotion and protection of human rights,

Recognizing the need for further and continued support and consideration of the programmes and activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights,

1. Welcomes the report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (E/CN.4/1999/9);

2. Supports fully the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner in their efforts to strengthen the human rights activities of the United Nations;

3. Reaffirms the importance of ensuring universality, objectivity and non-selectivity in the consideration of human rights issues, and requests the High Commissioner to continue to ensure that the fulfilment of her mandate and the activities of her Office are guided by these principles;

4. Encourages the High Commissioner, within her mandate as set out in General Assembly resolution 48/141 of 20 December 1993, to continue to play an active role in promoting and protecting all human rights, including in the prevention of human rights violations throughout the world;

5. Reiterates the need to ensure that all necessary financial, material and personnel resources are provided from the regular budget of the United Nations without delay to the United Nations human rights programme to enable the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to carry out its mandates efficiently, effectively and expeditiously;

6. Welcomes the increased voluntary contributions to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in particular those from developing countries;

7. Reaffirms that the tasks of the High Commissioner include the promotion and protection of the realization of the right to development and that the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights should provide adequate resources and staff for its follow-up;

8. Calls upon the High Commissioner to continue to emphasize the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights in the activities of her Office and in that regard encourages the High Commissioner to continue to strengthen her relationship with the appropriate bodies, funds and specialized organizations of the United Nations;

9. Recommends that the Economic and Social Council and the General Assembly provide the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights with ways and means commensurate to its increasing tasks, as well as more resources for special rapporteurs;

10. Invites all Governments considering voluntary contributions to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to consider providing unearmarked contributions to the extent possible with a view to treating all human rights in a fair and equal manner;

11. Calls upon the High Commissioner to continue to provide to States, through informal briefings as well as in her report to the Commission on Human Rights, information on voluntary contributions, including their share in the overall budget of the human rights programme and their allocation;

12. Declares that advisory services and technical cooperation provided at the request of Governments with a view to developing national capacities in the field of human rights constitute one of the most efficient and effective means of promoting and protecting all human rights and democracy;

13. Emphasizes the need for an increase in the allocation of resources from within the United Nations regular budget for advisory services and technical cooperation in the field of human rights;

14. Notes with interest the increase in the number of human rights field presences throughout the world and encourages the High Commissioner to consider their further improvement in cooperation with other relevant components of the United Nations system;

15. Welcomes the open-ended informal briefings provided by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and takes note with appreciation of these opportunities to discuss openly all aspects of the work of the Office while reiterating the need to analyse the effectiveness of field presences, and requests the High Commissioner to submit a separate report containing a comprehensive assessment of field presences to the Commission on Human Rights at its fifty-sixth session;

16. Invites the High Commissioner to continue to provide information on cooperation with other United Nations bodies and with Governments and invites her to make available information concerning agreements with States and other United Nations bodies and their implementation, in an open and transparent manner, as appropriate;

17. Calls upon the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to seek ways and means by which voluntary funds can be used to provide support to all mechanisms of the Commission;

18. Invites the High Commissioner to submit information pursuant to the present resolution in her annual report to the Commission;

19. Decides to consider the implementation of the present resolution at its fifty-sixth session under the relevant agenda item.

56^th meeting
27 April 1999

[Adopted without a vote. See chap. IV.]